Vendetta
by Spotlight92
Summary: He couldn't be alive... He just couldn't. "Oh... But I am. Alive and thriving, Julien," He WAS alive... And out for revenge. Rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

_"Jedrek!" A female Ringtailed lemur screamed for her husband from their makeshift raft. "Jedrek!" She held her stomach and scanned the water wide eyed. She sighed when her husband's head peaked out from under the water. _

_"Was someone calling me?" Aailyah rolled her eyes._

_"Yes!" He turned his head towards his wife._

_"Oh, what is being the problem my beautiful orchid?" _

_"The baby! She is coming!" The beautiful female lemur felt the contractions hit her and she screamed in pain. "She is coming quickly, husband! We need to get to shore!" Jedrek quickly swam to the wooden raft and climbed on. He stared into her eyes passionately before looking back at the water. _

_"Leroy! Zach! Andre! We need to get back to shore!" Three lemurs poked their heads out of the water and stared a minute at Jedrek. _

_"Yes, your Highness!" The three male lemurs went to the back of the raft and started pushing it. King Jedrek grabbed his leafy crown and placed it on top of his head. _

_"Don't worry, my Queen. Our baby will be born on shore. She will," Aailyah smiled at her husband before feeling another contraction hit her. _

_"Just come out already! You are to be hurting mommy!" She screamed. She looked ahead and saw that the shore was still far away. "Push!" She screamed at the three lemurs pushing the raft._

_"Sweetie, I think it is time for you to push as well," Jedrek squeezes his wife's hand._

_"No, I am not pushing until I'm sure our child will be born on Mada-" Another contraction hit her. "Okay! Okay! Jedrek! Help me!" She pleaded._

_"Okay... Um... Push!.. I guess?"_

_"Was that a question? To the queen?" She glared daggers at him._

_"No! No! I meant... Push Aailyah! Push for our baby!" The queen then pushed with all her force and so did the servants. They pushed as they reached closer and closer to the shore..._

_"The baby! Aailyah! Our baby has been born safely!"_

_"Thank the Sky Spirits!" Jedrek held the pup and grinned before realizing that they weren't on shore yet. "She wasn't born on Madagascar, was she?" The queen looked at her husband sadly._

_"It is actually a he... And no. Sorry my dear," She looked at the cradled pup in her husband's hands and started crying. _

_"Oh! I don't care! Let me hold our little Julien!" Her husband smiled and passed her the baby._

_"Julien? I was hoping to name him something like... Butch or Jedrek Jr.!"_

_"No, he is a Julien. He is having my eyes and my family is filled with Juliens... He will be the 13th one!" She said this as they reached the shore. The three workers walked from behind the raft and stood in front of the king and queen._

_"Congradulations your Majesties!" The three said in unison. Queen Aailyah was about to stand with their newly-born child when she felt another pain._

_"Jedrek! Oh Jedrek! I think there's another one!"_

_"Another one? That means this one will be heir!" He kneeled before his wife and took Julien from her hands. He looked apologetically at the sleeping baby. "I am sorry. It is being all my fault,"_

~{}{}{}{}{}~

"Mort! Where is my smoothie?" King Julien sat on a raft, floating in the penguin's moat.

"Here it is King Julien!" Mort ran up to the edge of the moat before throwing the coconut cup at the king. "Did you catch it?"

"No I did not! Are you being stupid AND blind, Mort? Now I am wet and sticky... And mangoy!" King Julien wiped off the smoothie from his fur and scowled at the little lemur. "Now go get me a towel... And another smoothie!" Little Mort ran off and Julien sighed. "Why am I even associating with him?" He sat back and closed his eyes. But before he could really relax, he felt something grab him and throw him. He fell with an oof onto the concrete and looked up at Skipper's face.

"What are you doing in our water, Ringtail?"

"Well... What was giving you permission to be throwing me off of my kingly raft?" Skipper rolled his eyes.

"What gave me permission? This is my property, Ringtail! I can throw whoever I want!" Kowalski looked over at his commander.

"Actually, this belongs to the city park, Skipper," The shorter penguin glared at him.

"Not the point, Kowalski! This is my place and Ringtail is not allowed here!" Julien stood up, dusted himself off and scoffed.

"Fine! I know when I am not being wanted! Mort! Take the raft!" The small lemur came running with a smoothie and towel.

"How can I pick it up?"

"I don't know! Just figure it out!" Julien left the habitat, ignoring Mort's hard time carrying the raft.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" Maurice came running towards the king. "I... I saw him!" Julien raised an eyebrow.

"Who were you to be seeing?" Maurice sighed deeply.

"Your Highness, I saw Zace!" Julien's calm expression fell, making way to shock.

"D-Don't be silly, Maurice! Zace is not here!" Julien tried to laugh, but it didn't come. "Zace is not here, Maurice!"

"But I saw him with my own two eyes! He was walking through the habitat and then, he rushed away!" The two were silent for a moment.

"Well... I think your eyed were mistaking you, Maurice. Zace can not be here. It is impossible," Julien then walked away, going towards his kingdom. He looked around before he walked in. He kept looking around while he climbed up to his throne. It was completely empty.

"You see Maurice! It is being empty in here!" Julien gained his mellow attitude back and laughed. "Now to calm you down, Maurice, let us do a little booty shaking!" He motioned for Mort to turn on the boombox. When the song started blasting, the king jumped down from his throne and grabbed Maurice. The two started to tango.

"You see, Maurice? Nothing to worry about!" Maurice's face creased.

"Why can't you believe me? I know that this was not a fig-" The king covered Maurice's mouth.

"Be shutting up now, this is being my favorite song," Julien twirled Maurice. He had no need to worry. All his problems were left in Madagascar. They'd never be able to follow him here.


	2. Chapter 2

"Aren't you feeling better, Maurice? You shouldn't be worrying about things like that ever again," Julien twisted his head to Maurice who was still dancing hours since the music came on. It was evening now and the street lights lit up the zoo now. Maurice looked wearily at the king.

"I don't your Highness. I saw him, I swear! I know I'm not that old to start seeing things," Julien stopped dancing and walked up to Maurice. Mort hopped along behind him.

"Maurice, I bet you are trying to scare me with your fibby lie of Zace coming here but you aren't! So I expect you to stop trying! He will NEVER COME BACK! OKAY?" Julien screamed in the Aye-Aye's face, which was stricken with shock. The king rarely rose his voice at him and when he did, it never affected him like this before.

"Y-your Ma-"

"No more talking, Maurice! You are disrespecting me by even bringing HIM up! He was suppose to be one of those unspoken things! And you broke the rule of unspeakness for a stupid trick!" The king was trembling slightly and his eyes were growing bloodshot.

"But your High-"

"You are now in EXILE!" The last song on the CD ended and the group hung in the silence around them. Maurice stared at King Julien. The king looked like he was about to cry.

"Julien-"

"You aren't to come back until you are realizing that using him to play a prank on me is bad," He was still trembling but his voice dropped into a monotone. Maurice nodded slowly before leaving the habitat. King Julien stared at his walking silhouette, trying to control his trembling.

Maurice walked into the penguin habitat, ears drooping.

"Oh! Good evening, Maurice," Private looked away from the TV and smiled at the sulking lemur. "Oh... Um... Is something the matter?" The other penguins got up from the table and walked up to Maurice.

"Ringtail's probably being a pain in the butt as always," Skipper smirked and put a flipper on Maurice's shoulder.

"That's not the problem, Skipper," Maurice's ears were standing alert again.

"Then what exactly is the issue?" Kowalski pulled out his clipboard and pencil, prepared to take notes.  
"The thing is, I can't exactly tell you. It's one of the king and I's unspoken things. But I promise it's life or death,"

"Just tell us. What he doesn't know won't kill him, right?" Skipper said. Maurice looked worriedly at him.

"I'm afraid it might..." Maurice took Skipper's flipper off his shoulder and moved to leave when the lights cut off.

"Great Goliath's golashes!" Kowalski yelled as Maurice saw him fall on Rico.

"Chimmychanga! Boys, where are you? I'm blinder than a bat,"

"You guys can't see in the dark?"

The watched as they subconsciously shook their heads to the darkness.

"Well, we're about to! Rico! Glow sticks!" The weapons expert laughed and spit up 4 glow sticks and the room was illuminated with blue light. "Kowalski, options!"

"Well, we could go to the main electrical wires and see if it has been dislodged. Then, I could fix the problem," Skipper nodded in approval.

"Okay! Operation: Lighting Up The Night is a go!" The three oldest penguins slid through the door, glowing sticks in their flippers. Private looked at the lemur.

"You coming, Maurice?"

"Yeah, why not?"  
~{}{}{}{}~

Julien was laying in the bouncy castle, listening to Mort playing with Rodney. He sighed deeply. Maurice always had to ruin his good mood. He was always bringing up the worst things.

"Now my fur is going to get all bristle-y!" Julien said into the slow drone of the night. He sighed again and he felt his eyes grow heavy.

"Mort... Shut up a little.." The king said as he slipped into sleep. He didn't hear the gasps of the zoo members when the lights went off.  
~{}{}{}{}~

"Zace! Zace! Come here my son!" The king was sitting on his throne, watching his two children going about their own things. Zace looked up from his ant observations and stood. He bumped into his brother who was practicing his dance moves.

"Oops, sorry!" Julien glared at Zace as he rustled the fur on Julien's head. The young lemur laughed light heartedly and ran to Jedrek. Julien scowled at the back of Zace's head as he ran to their father.

"Yes Papa?" Zace's orange eyes flashed with joy. Jedrek smiled wide and pulled his son onto his lap.

"Do you know what my job is, Zace?" The little lemur laughed.

"Of course I do, Papa! You are the king of Madagascar and Mother is the Queen!" Jedrek nodded and took off his leafy crown. He placed it gently onto Zace's head.

"Yes, and you will be owning the kingdom one day. You will have a wife and your own servants," Jedrek took the crown off his son's head and placed it back on his head. "But you know what is most important about being king? Being a good person. You need to be brave and responsible and someone the younger commoners will be looking up to," Zace's happy exterior sobered out. He puffed out his chest and slapped it once with a little paw.

"I can do that, Papa! I will do it!" Jedrek laughed a hardy laugh and placed his son back onto his feet.

"I know you will. You were born for this," Julien sighed and turned away from them. He started walking away from the Royal clearing.

"I was born first! Why doesn't Papa say those things to me? Aren't I good enough too?" Julien kicked at the ground. "Aren't I?"

"Something feels off..." Maurice looked around the sewer, a bit uneasy. The 5 of them walked leisurely toward the main electrical connection to the zoo.

"Don't worry, Maurice. Everything is perfectly safe down here... Except for that toxic sewer water and the threat of the Rat King..." Kowalski cleared his throat and kept walking.  
"No, I know that. I mean something else..."

"Ah, stop with the mumbo jumbo Maurice. Nothing is wrong down here... Except for the toxic sewage and Rat King," Skipper kept walking side by side with Kowalski, not taking note of Maurice's distraught face. He had saw something pass in front of them. He tried to convince himself that it was just a mouse... But it was way too big and it's tail was way too bushy to be a mouse. He swallowed hard.

"We're at the main frame, Skipper," Kowalski stood beside a grey box with wires strewn near the base of it.  
"It seems someone had cut the main wires off. The cuts are too clean to have been done by mere rat bites," Kowalski picked up a blue wire and held it up, almost as evidence.

"Sabotage! Fix the wires, Kowalski. We'll have to look for the suspect tomorrow. We'll need some shut eye,"

"Will do, Skipper," Maurice decided to calm down and watch the penguins work with mild interest.  
"Maurice..." The lemur jumped and turned around. He saw nothing peculiar. But that voice sounded so familiar to him. Thinking of that voice sent shivers down his spine. It wasn't the sound of the voice that scared him though. It was the person who owned the voice. He peaked fearfully once more behind himself before turning back to the penguins.

"Calm down, Maurice. C-c-calm dow-" A clang interrupted his personal pep talk and he stopped suddenly. He noticed that even the penguins noticed.

"Maurice," He definitely knew that voice.

"What's up with that ominous voice...?" The team went into defense mode and made a protective circle around Maurice as they waited for the beast to strike. It wasn't before long that they saw orange eyes flashing down the shadows of the tunnel. They approached slowly at first but soon they gained momentum and you could hear the heavy footsteps on the concrete.

"Stand your ground, men!" Skipper raised his fists higher as the beast finally was getting close enough to see. Maurice had his eyes screwed tight, making sure he won't be able to see what will happen to him or the penguins in about a minute.

"Show yourself!" He heard Skipper yell. A low snarl sounded and Maurice nearly jumped out off his fur.

"Whatever happens, happens" Maurice says to keep himself relatively calm.

"Don't make us use force!" There was a cold silence. Maurice heard slow footsteps step into the penguin's view and he heard a gasp.

"King Julien?" Private said. Maurice's eyes shot open and he looked. His ears didn't trick him. It was King Julien, laughing his head off.

"Ringtail! What's the matter with you? We could've killed you!" King Julien laughed a bit more before pulling himself together to talk.

"I wanted to be playing a pranky trick on Maurice because he was playing on me! It was working!"

Maurice looked the king over. Something was different... He just couldn't tell what.

"Well take your shenanigans elsewhere! Me and the boys have things to do!" King Julien gave Skipper a nasty look, nastier than he had ever given him.

"I will be doing my shenanigans where ever I please! Understood?" He patted Skipper on the head when he didn't say anything. "Good compliant birdy," King Julien backed away from the now fuming bird and looked at Maurice. It was a look Maurice couldn't look was telling him something... But as sudden as Julien gave it, he stopped and he turned away, walking back into the darkness.

"Where are you going?" Maurice found his voice.

"Wherever I want! I am king!" His footsteps started to fade into the distance but Maurice still couldn't put a finger on that look.

"Maurice..." His meditations were disturbed by the youngest penguins. "Do you want to go back to the zoo with me? That was sort of creepy," Maurice couldn't help smiling at the young penguins.

"Yeah. Let's go," 


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't long after Private and Maurice left the sewer that the electricity came back on.

"Well, that's a relief! I'm not too fond of the dark," Private said. "Especially after that stunt Julien pulled in the sewer," He chuckled nervously and Maurice patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry, now that he got that out of his system, he won't go sneaking around in the shadows," Maurice reassured him.

"I know... It's kind of silly to think Julien will do that again. It is late after all," And as if on cue, Private yawned.

"I guess that means I have to go. I'll go see if I'm unbanished yet. Tell the others I said goodnight," Maurice waved goodbye to the tired penguin. He didn't want to feel like he was intruding, especially if they were getting sleepy. So it was probably best for him to leave. He had to check on King Julien anyway. He was hoping that the king had got it all out of his system and that they could get back onto good terms.

"Maurice!" He had made it halfway to the habitat when Mort ran to the Aye-Aye and hugged him. Maurice smiled slightly at his strange little buddy.

"Hey Mort. What're you doing up so late?"

"I was trying to go to sleep but someone turned out the lights and it was really creepy! So I hugged the sleeping king's feet for protection!" Mort smiled triumphantly, like he won first place.

"Well, good for you Mo-" Maurice stopped, the words sinking in. "Wait. The king was sleeping?" Maurice asked. Mort nodded his head. "Did he happen to wake up and leave?"

"I don't know. He gave me a love kick," Maurice stared blankly at the Mouse lemur, thinking of what to do next.

"C'mon Mort. We have to go check up on Julien!" He grabbed him by the paw and started running towards the habitat. He could never be too careful.

Julien slowly drifted out of his dream and became alert of his surroundings. He hated waking up in the middle of the night. It would take him forever to fall back to sleep with all the noises. He huffed and kept his eyes closed, hoping sleep would come again. After a couple of minutes, he was drifting off back to sleep when he heard shuffling from nearby. He groaned.

"Mort! Go to sleep!" He said tiredly. The shuffling stopped and Julien got himself comfy, waiting for sleep to come again. The shuffling started again.

"Mort! I am warning you! Be shutting up!" He sat up and looked around, ready to chuck the closest stone at the little brat. But he didn't see him. "Yeah! Go and hide!" He looked around one more time before dropping the rock and readying himself to go to sleep. But before he could lay down, a warm hand grasped the front of his muzzle. Julien went wide-eyed and writhed around, trying to get free. He even tried to scream, but it came out in a muffled mess.

"Hello Julien," The voice said into his ear. Julien made a gasping sound and totally went crazy. He needed to get away from him. He'd do anything to have gotten away from him at that moment.

"What? You are not happy to know I'm here? That is disappointing," He chuckled at Julien's flopping around and pinched his nose shut. Julien stopped moving around and closed his eyes, scared to death. He wanted to breath in deeply but he couldn't, making him more nervous. He couldn't be alive. He just couldn't. He had seen his death with his own eyes.

"Oh, but I am!" He said. "Alive and thriving, Julien!" Julien opened his eyes in shock. How could he hear him?

"Twin telepathy at it's best," Zace laughed. "Running out of air, are you, brother? Well, listen up, because I'll be quick," Julien swallowed and listened, completely at his brother's mercy.

"First off, let me just say that I could kill you right now. But that would be far to quick and painless for you. I want you to SUFFER!" He squeezed hard onto Julien's muzzle and smirked when he heard the groan of pain.

"And don't try to run or hide. You will accomplish nothing. I'll always be watching you and I'll always know where you are. Don't let my absence fool you," Julien heard his brother sigh for a second before beginning to talk again.

"You could never do anything right, Julien. Not even off your own brother. But I'm much more competent. I'll get the job done," By this time, Julien's lungs burned for air and he was taking useless gasps. Zace cackled.

"Enjoy your last breaths!" He let go of Julien's whole muzzle and let him breath. The king took in thankful gasps. He was about to turn around and look his brother in the face when he was shoved off the bouncy and hit his head on the ground hard.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" Julien shot open his eyes at Maurice's voice and looked around. And sure enough, he saw his right hand man (and undesired guest) running towards him. The Ringtailed Lemur tried to get to his feet but felt dizzy and just waited for them to get to him.

"Oh Maurice!" Julien sat up as far as he could and wrapped his arms around the stout lemur. He felt the memory of the incident rush through him. The fear. The pain of his lungs. He remembered everything. But through all of this, a small part of him couldn't help but think it was all a dream. A dark, sick dream.

"Julien, what's wrong?" Maurice patted the king's back, feeling him quiver.

"I was having the worst dream, Maurice!" He said the first thing that popped into his head. He meant to tell him everything, but he could get himself to say the details even if it was a cruel dream.

"Oh... Well, don't worry, your Highness. I'm here... Do you want me to stay?" Only then did Julien remember that he banished him earlier that night. He nodded his head. Maurice was his protective wall. And even if the danger was stronger than the both of them, Maurice still made him feel safe.

Maurice smiled softly and climbed into the bouncy house. Julien followed suit, trying to play off his dizziness as he climbed in.

"Good night, Julien,"

"Good night, Maurice," Doubtless to say, this was one of those nights where Julien fell asleep hugging Maurice's tail. It was a serene night despite the trouble waiting in the near future. The calm before the storm.

A/N: First thing. Thank you for the reviews guys! I'm happy you all enjoy this story :D Second thing. I feel awful that I'm not updated as much as I wish I could. But I want you all to know that I'll try my best to finish it. Third thing... Um... I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And I'll try my best to update again this month. :) 


End file.
